Electric car charging availability (2)

Florence Eshalomi: The charging devices per 100,000 population vary from 190 in Westminster to 4 in Havering. What, if anything, are you doing to support boroughs who wish to increase the public electric vehicle charging devices in their area?

The Mayor: All boroughs were invited to install public electric charge points in residential areas as part of the Go Ultra Low City Scheme (GULCS). Participating boroughs received procurement support and guidance from the GULCS project team (consisting of London Councils, TfL and GLA staff).
There were 23 boroughs that participated in GULCS Phase 1, delivering over 1,700 charge points to date. GULCS Phase 2 will see a further 1,000 points installed across 28 boroughs this year. Havering has not bid for funding.
All boroughs have also been invited to support TfL’s rapid charge point delivery programme. To date, 232 rapid charge points have been delivered and two are in Havering on TfL highway / land.

SNC Lavalin’s Delayed Receipt of Fatigue Audit 17 780 from TfL

Keith Prince: When will you respond to Question 2019/12323?

The Mayor: My response to Mayor’s Question 2019/12323 was published on Monday 24th February 2020.

Electric charging points (2)

Tony Arbour: How many rapid electric charging points have been installed by the Mayor since 2016

The Mayor: London’s Electric Vehicle charge point network is a global leader. There are almost 5,000 charge points – one for every six electric cars in the capital, and 25 per centof all points in the UK.
Data published in my Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Delivery Plan shows there were around 39 rapid charging points at the start of 2016 (assuming two connectors per charging point – 43kw AC and 50kw DC). TfL’s current data, provided by Zap-Map, shows there were 407 rapid charge points on 30 January 2020.
Much of this growth has been delivered by TfL as part of its rapid charge point delivery programme. TfL have helped to install 233 rapid charge points to date, including London’s first rapid charge point hub in Stratford.

Freight consolidation

Leonie Cooper: What support do you provide for businesses to work together to consolidate their goods into zero- and low-carbon vehicles?

The Mayor: The Healthy Streets Fund for Business (HSFB) was set up to support Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and business groups to consolidate goods and services. This fund invests in projects that will reduce congestion, improve air quality and enhance safety. Since 2017, Transport for London (TfL) has provided match funding for projects through the scheme and will be offering to do so again next year.
The Mayor’s Air Quality Fund and the Mayor’s Air Quality Business Fund support businesses to reduce freight and switch to Low Emission Vehicles. This includes the Cleaner Air Better Business project and two Zero Emission Networks, which have provided Delivery and Servicing support and small grants and advice to help companies with modal shift and the switch to cleaner taxi companies and vehicles.
TfL offers ‘Efficient Deliveries’ workshops to businesses, works with BIDs and other business groups to provide advice on reducing their freight footprint, and provides toolkits to help businesses reduce and retime deliveries to support their resilience. As set out in my Freight and Servicing Action Plan, TfL will make land available for micro-distribution centres in key locations to support sustainable last mile deliveries in neighbourhoods across the capital, including by bike.
Finally, to help micro-businesses, sole traders and charities prepare for the central London Ultra Low Emission Zone and its expansion to the North and South Circulars in 2021, I launched my £23million van scrappage scheme. A number of changes to the scheme were made earlier this year to provide greater support to a larger number of eligible organisations. The eligibility criteria has been expanded to include small businesses and those who enter the zone less frequently. The scrappage payment level also increased to £7,000 and up to £9,500 to switch to electric.
The scheme will also be extended to heavy vehicles (those affected by the Low Emission Zone) later this year. This includes buses, coaches and Heavy Goods Vehicles, providing access to a £15,000 payment. This will support small businesses affected by the tougher Low Emission Zone standards across Greater London from October 2020.

Electric charging points (4)

Tony Arbour: How many slow electric charging points have been installed by the Mayor since 2016?

The Mayor: London’s electric vehicle charge point network is a global leader. There are almost 5,000 charge points – one for every six electric cars in the capital, and 25 per centof all points in the UK.
Data published in my Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Delivery Plan shows there were 1,727 slow to fast charging points at the start of 2016 (assuming one connector per charging point – between 3kw – 22kw). TfL’s current data, provided by Zap-Map, shows there were 4,456 slow to fast charging points on 30 January 2020.
Much of this growth has been delivered as part of the Go Ultra Low City scheme (a partnership between London Councils, TfL and the GLA). Over 1,700 on-street residential charge points have been installed across 18 London Boroughs and a further 1,000 are expected this year.

Electric charging points (3)

Tony Arbour: How many fast electric charging points have been installed by the Mayor since 2016?

The Mayor: Slow to fast charge points are commonly reported together given most vehicles are currently limited to a maximum AC charge rate of 11kW or less for battery electric vehicles and to 3.6kW or less for plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Please see my answer to Mayor's Question 2019/21127.

Electric vehicle rapid charging hub

Shaun Bailey: How many users are you expecting in the first year for the new rapid charging hub in Stratford?

The Mayor: TfL provided grant funding to bring this new rapid charging hub at Stratford forward as the first of five planned across the capital, as part of London’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Delivery Plan. The six 50kW rapid chargers at this site provide connectors that are fully accessible to all electric vehicle drivers, including taxis. The new hub is operated by the charging network provider Engenie, who may have estimates of their expected user numbers.
London’s rapid charge points have seen increased usage, at levels more than double the rest of the UK. In Q3 2019, rapids usage per day was 5.6 charges on average in London, up from 2.8 charges per day in Q2, 2018. From the same time periods, rapids at the UK level had on average 2.1 charges per day, up from 1.8 charges per day (source: Zap-Map database).

Taxi delicensing

Leonie Cooper: Please provide an update on the progress cleaning up London’s black cabs. How many taxis have been delicensed so far under your delicensing scheme?

The Mayor: By 6 January 2020, Transport for London (TfL) had made 2,054 delicensing payments.
The owners of older, more polluting taxis can still apply for a delicensing payment of up to £8,000. More information on the scheme is available on the TfL website at: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/taxi-delicensing-scheme.

Air pollution in Rotherhithe Tunnel (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Please state what measures TfL is taking to reduce and disperse air pollution in the Rotherhithe Tunnel. Please also set out whether there are any plans for further action.

The Mayor: Air pollution within the Rotherhithe Tunnel is reduced and dispersed by the tunnel’s ventilation system. This supplies fresh air and removes the polluted air through the four ventilation shafts into the atmosphere. There is no permanent monitoring outside the tunnel however there are five permanent environmental monitors located within the tunnel which monitor for NO2, CO and particulates. These automatically switch the tunnel ventilation system on and off when pre-determined pollution limits within the tunnel are reached. The data is collected on TfL’s Tunnel Control System known as Horus.
Transport for London is planning to refurbish all equipment within the tunnel, including the ventilation system, within the next five years. This project has commenced concept design and is looking at ways of improving dispersal of air pollution.
Since vehicle restrictions in the tunnel were updated in September 2018, commercial vehicles over 2 tonnes in gross vehicle weight have not been permitted to use the tunnel. While this change has affected 8 per cent of the total number of vehicles using the tunnel, it has resulted in a measured improvement of 40 per cent reduction in NO2 levels experienced within the tunnel. Further improvements are expected with the tightening of the Londonwide Low Emission Zone standards in October 2020 and the expansion of the ULEZ to incorporate the Rotherhithe Tunnel in October 2021.
Please also see my response to Mayor’s Question 2019/17314.

Air pollution in Rotherhithe Tunnel (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: Please state what measures TfL undertakes to monitor air pollution in Rotherhithe tunnel.

The Mayor: There are five permanent environmental monitors located within the tunnel that measure NO2, CO and particulates. If these exceed certain levels, the ventilation fans automatically switch on and extract the polluted air to atmosphere.
Reports can be run from the tunnel control system showing the readings from the five permanent environmental monitors.
There is no permanent monitoring of the air outside the tunnel, however we currently have two additional temporary air quality monitors are located at the two extract shafts on the outside of the tunnel. A monthly air quality report is also issued to residents of the six apartments at 157 Rotherhithe Street which are in close proximity to Shaft 2.
For the last two years, TfL has held a quarterly meeting with environmental officers from the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Southwark to specifically discuss the air quality issues associated with Rotherhithe Tunnel.

Panthea Leadership

Keith Prince: A review of TfL Expenditure greater than £250 since 2012 shows Panthea Leadership generally being paid in excess of £10,000 per month. Exactly what "Executive Mentoring" services are being provided by Panthea Leadership on near-monthly basis? Precisely how is Panthea's personnel qualified to "mentor" TfL Executives? Have Panthea Leadership's "mentoring" services ever been procured in a transparent and competitive tender process?

The Mayor: Panthea Leadership’s mentoring services and their capability and experience are assessed and procured in an open and competitive tender process. Further details on this tender are provided in Mayor's Question 2019/21054.
The executive mentoring provided by Panthea Leadership includes the identification of development objectives for both individuals and the Transport For London Executive Committee as a collective. Panthea Leadership attend, observe and assess the Executive Committee meetings to provide challenge and reflection on group performance, facilitating discussions where appropriate. Individual level feedback is also provided to Executive Committee members along with the Commissioner.

Audit and Assurance Committee Review of Coaching and Mentoring Service Contracts

Keith Prince: Has TfL's method of procurement of Mentoring or Coaching Services for its executives being provided by Panthea Leadership or Leonardo Advisory Wondrous People Ltd ever been reviewed by TfL's Audit and Assurance Committee?

The Mayor: The Transport for London procurement process is heavily scrutinised through both internal and external parties.There has not been a specific audit carried out on these contracts as it has followed the standard procurement process that is monitored and assured on a regular basis.

Scrappage fund [1]

Andrew Dismore: How much money has been disbursed from the ULEZ scrappage fund since it was established?

The Mayor: As at 3 February 2020, Transport for London (TfL) has processed 623 van scrappage grant payments with a total value of £2,605,500. In addition, since I launched my car and motorcycle scrappage scheme in October 2019, TfL has processed 850 grant payments with a total value of £1,694,000. As a result, 1,552 of the most polluting vehicles have been scrapped.

SNC Lavalin’s Delayed Receipt of Fatigue Audit 17 780 from TfL

Keith Prince: Paragraph 3.1 of TfL’s Briefing Note to the Board (http://content.tfl.gov.uk/24-july-2018-board-briefing-note%20-on-fatigue...) about its failure to send Fatigue Audit 17 780 to the Croydon Crash Investigators, Regulator and the Police states that while TfL sent IA 17 780 to the RAIB, ORR and British Transport Police on 12 February, TfL’s own Crash Investigator SNC-Lavalin did not receive a copy until 15 March 2018. What reason can you provide for the month delay?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) commissioned SNC-Lavalin to conduct an independent investigation of the tram overturning to determine its causes and the surrounding circumstances, which included Tram Operations Limited’s fatigue arrangements. SNC-Lavalin completed work and its final report was published in full on TfL’s website on 10 January 2018.
The subsequent request made by the Chair of the SSHRP was understood to be whether TfL’s audit of fatigue management processes within Tram Operations Limited (IA 17 780) had been sent to RAIB, ORR and BTP. IA 17 780 was sent to the RAIB, BTP and ORR on 12 February 2018 and this was confirmed to the Chair of the SSHRP shortly afterwards. The Briefing note to the TfL Board dated 24 July 2018 sets out the clear explanation why IA 17 780 was not issued immediately upon its completion.
TfL made a commitment to publish IA 17 780 at the conclusion of all ongoing investigations. However, given the level of interest in the report, special permission was sought from the BTP and ORR to publish it despite their investigations continuing. IA 17 780 was consequently published by TfL on 16 March 2018. TfL sent the audit report to SNC-Lavalin for information on 15 March 2018 as part of the preparation for the publication on 16 March 2018.

Emails and communication between TfL Executives about Fatigue Audit IA 17780 sent between 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017

Caroline Pidgeon: When will TfL provide the documents you promised it would send to me in your 13th September Response to question 2019/17340?

The Mayor: Mayor’s Question 2019/12001 sought “all communications concerning [the] circulation [of a draft of Fatigue Audit IA 17 780 “which was first sent to First Group on 11th July 2019”] and First Group’s response.” Mayor’s Question 2019/17340 now extends that to “any emails between TfL Executives about Fatigue Audit IA 17780 between 19 May 2017 and 7 July 2017” (i.e. before the draft audit was provided to FirstGroup/Tram Operations Limited).
In order to respond in a proportionate way to this request an automated search has been made of selected email accounts which are probable repositories of emails caught by your request, for the period requested using the search terms “fatigue” or “FirstGroup”. A considerable amount of Transport for London (TfL) staff time has then been spent in reviewing and sorting the results, identifying relevant emails and attachments, omitting duplicates and making the necessary GDPR-related redactions. That process is continuing but is nearly complete. TfL will send you the set of documents as soon as possible but in any event before the start of the pre-election period.